


Sharpen

by user_name



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Future, Bottom Do Kyungsoo | D.O, Dancer Kim Jongin | Kai, Dark, Disturbing, Dystopia, EXO - Freeform, Eventual Smut, KaiSoo - Freeform, M/M, Post-Apocalypse, Prostitution, Science Fiction, Sexual Tension, Shy Do Kyungsoo | D.O, Top Kim Jongin | Kai, Underage sex trafficking, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-03-04 04:40:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13356699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/user_name/pseuds/user_name
Summary: The boy kept running even as the sky turned off.The city groaned like a distorted TV. The sun blinked out, the clouds darkened like a fuse. The air tasted crisp and tense. He had never been out this late before, much less while within city limits. His lungs were burning a fire in his chest, but he had to keep running, had to find the train his parents had left on.Kai and Kyungsoo are lost boys navigating a broken city. They hop skyscrapers and steal carships. They hide out in abandoned warehouses filled with dead robots and watch snowflakes fly in through shattered windows. They feel alive.





	1. Midnight Train

**Author's Note:**

> https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1317281/sharpen-dark-mature-scifi-future-exo-exok-kai-jongin-sciencefiction-kaisoo-futuristic-futureau-kadi-kaisooexo-kaisooau-jonginxkyungsoo
> 
> Kai makes a scary first impression. Kyungsoo gets lost in a bathroom. They hide in a treehouse for a while and live off of apples. Kai likes eating apples off the ground, but Kyungsoo says they're dirty. Kai likes fixing Kyungsoo's wedgies, but Kyungsoo says that's dirty.  
> 

Kyungsoo kept running even as the sky turned off.

The city groaned like a distorted TV. The sun blinked out, the clouds darkened like a fuse. The air tasted crisp and tense. He had never been out this late before, much less while within city limits. His lungs were burning a fire in his chest, but he had to keep running, had to find the train his parents had left on.

In the potholes he stepped on there echoed the sounds of static. Father had warned him of shady dealings deep within the city's structure—the hollow walls, barren warehouses, and sewage pipes—"all filled with crooks speaking into static phones, coordinating murder and thievery, the trafficking of naive boys and girls." Then Father had pointedly stared at him.

Kyungsoo had shrugged him off, saying, "I know, I _know_. You don't need to tell me all the time." But despite his words, he had not fully believed in the danger until now.

Stupid. _Stupid._ He balled his fists and hit himself on the head a couple of times. His face scrunched up as he let out a restrained sob, the effort racking his shoulders and making his pace slow to a pained jog. So maybe he'd felt safe and self-assured, boxed inside the clean station with all the lawyers and doctors transiting from gated communities. It didn't matter; he shouldn't have left Father's side when they had been so close to boarding. Even peeing his pants in public would have been better than this.

It had caught his eye during his trip to the bathroom; a white rabbit the size of his fist, nibbling at the corner of his shoe as he stood at the urinal. When he had finished peeing it ran off and he had followed, curious. Wild rabbits were close to extinction. He had only ever seen them in photos.

The crowd was pushy and offended when he ran through the station in pursuit of the fluffy tail darting under people's shoes, just beyond reach. Mother loved little animals. If he could just...

A voice came over the intercom. "Station 114, Coalburns. Departure."

He paled. "Mom! Dad!" He was back to pushing through the crowd, but this time in the wrong direction. The flow of people formed a wave against his path as they all tried to make it to the next station. "Stop! Someone please—" His voice broke into a panicked squeak as people began knocking into his narrow shoulders. He could barely be heard over the bustle.

The night at the station had been a long one. He had stayed until midnight, when the station had emptied of people and an empty hunger began to rumble his stomach.

His first hesitant step outside the clean station doors was met with a sense of unease. A row of dead trees lined the road. Dull skyscrapers with dim windows were crammed into every block and the streets echoed with distant sirens and gunshots. The only color was in the red graffiti, and the giant LED advertisements that stretched across various walls.

His community had instant noodle vending machines on the wide, suburban sidewalks, and friendly policemen on every block. Maybe he would find some helpful city officials here, too. Ironically, it wasn't until his legs were sour from searching down deserted streets that a nauseous wave of urgency hit him and he began to run. He couldn't stay in the city like this. He was weak and hungry and nightfall was soon.

That was how he found himself blindly running as the city's main lights shut down with giant echoing clicks. One by one, the giant skylights shut off, until at last he could barely see his own hand in front of his face because the only light came from the dimly glowing windows of the skyscrapers.

His feet ached and his eyes were hot from holding back tears. He leaned against a building and started sobbing heavily, choking with the effort to be quiet about it. It was weird to hear his crying be the only sound around; even the gunshots had faded away. 

The thought made him rub away his tears and stifle his hiccups, as he was suddenly aware of the silent void that filled his ears like oil. An eerie prickling touched the small hairs on the back of his neck. A quiet breeze lifted cold beads of sweat from his skin. Everywhere was dark.

Then a rough hand grabbed him by the neck. He screamed. The stranger slapped his face and he felt something prick the skin of his cheek. He went limp in the stranger's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appreciate all feedback :3  
> You can comment suggestions for plot or cute details if you want and I can see if I can work it in


	2. Oasis

Kyungsoo woke up snuggled in puffy sheets on a fluffy feather bed. Gentle sunlight filtered in through the blinds, painting him in warm stripes of honey. 

"Oh, wow," he said breathily, nuzzling his cheek into the pillow. Then his eyes went wide. _Where am I._ He shot up like a frightened doe, causing the sheets to slide off and bare his upper body. _Why am I only in my underwear_. The room was snug around the bed and cozy with light, and in the doorway there was—

"You look like a rabbit in headlights," said the man. He was tall and tan and leaning casually against the doorframe. A pair of grey sweatpants hung loosely off his hips.

Kyungsoo blinked and blurted, "Isn't it supposed to be a  _deer_ in headlights?" even as the little voice in his head told him to  _Stop, shut up,_ _stranger danger!_

The man ran a hand through his hair. Distracting. "What's that?" 

Kyungsoo gulped. "Nothing. I—never mind. Who are you? Where am I?" And then more fearfully, "Where are my parents?" His mind went rushing back to last night. Images of the dark city and the sting of a sharp slap against his cheek came back to him in an overwhelming muddle. He swallowed nervously, realizing that _T_ _his was the man. This was his attacker._ He thought about running for it but he had no doubt that the man would be strong enough to tackle him to the floor if he wanted to.

The man frowned. "You have parents?" 

"Yes, I—of course I do! Do you know where they are? Police officers know how to track train routes, right? They left on a train. You aren't a police officer, are you?" he babbled. The man frowned down at Kyungsoo's small hands. He was wringing them nervously. "Please—"

"Shut up." Kyungsoo flinched as the man moved in closely and grabbed the nape of his neck. Their foreheads were almost touching in a gesture that felt oddly intimate. His eyes were a warm, deep brown and his hair was tickling Kyungsoo's forehead. " _I_ ask the questions. Now get up." Kyungsoo felt miffed. A blush of irritation went up to his ears despite himself and he was grateful when the man pulled away from the edge of the bed to leave, stopping in the doorway. There was a muscle in his back, twitching. "Well? Come on."

Kyungsoo scrambled out of bed, then stood awkwardly, holding his arms into himself, conscious of the warm sunlight heating up his skin. "Do you have extra clothes?"

"Here." The man opened a small side closet and threw a large white T-shirt onto Kyungsoo's face. He pulled it on, frowning, and followed the man out of the room and into a cozy kitchen, old-fashioned, and with a heaping plate of eggs and fruity pancakes laid out on a counter top. "Eat."

Kyungsoo hesitated. _It could be poisoned. Or worse._  "Thank you, but I'm full," he said meekly, pushing the plate towards the man.

"No, I insist." He pushed it back.

A fruit fly landed in the pineapple. Kyungsoo followed it with his eyes, pretended not to see the man's gaze boring a hole into his skull.

"Aren't _you_ hungry?" he asked anxiously.

The man huffed and tore off a piece of fluffy pancake, stuffing it in his mouth. "See? Delicious," he said, his words slightly muffled through the mouthful. "But I ate already. Try it, you must be hungry."

The man watched as he took his first hesitant bite. His eyes went wide; it was heavenly. His stomach ached for more and then he was unable to stop, shoveling the soft cake into his mouth like one of those starved jaguars he'd seen in dated wildlife documentaries.

It was gone before he knew it. Suddenly he was licking his fingers and utensils of the fruity syrupy goodness, lamenting the crumbs that littered his plate. Somewhere along the way he'd forgotten the man was even there. Now his eyes went wide as he made eye contact and froze, stopping his enthusiastic licking of the fork.

The man crossed his arms. "What?"

"Wh-what?" Kyungsoo replied, flustered. Kai noticed that his eyes were still wide in what, fear? Was he very afraid? He looked like an owl. One of those small ones, with amber circles for eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

He looked down, mumbled, "sorry." 

The man moved to look Kyungsoo in the eyes and smiled as Kyungsoo flushed pink immediately but held his defiant glare. The man kept uncomfortably long eye contact as he pondered his next move. He might as well try to get the boy a little more comfortable. Trust was key. "What's your name?" he asked, playing at a casual tone. "My name's Kai," he volunteered.

"Kyungsoo," the boy said in a small voice.

"That's a pretty name."

"Thanks…" Kyungsoo said, twisting his hands in his lap. He was starting to gnaw at his lower lip and his eyes kept darting around nervously, kept returning to the door.

Kai stretched his muscled arms above his head with a showy, exaggerated groan and leaned his head to the side, blocking out Kyungsoo's view and smirking as he saw Kyungsoo subconsciously cross his legs. Kai leaned in. His low murmur was hot against Kyungsoo's neck. "So. How old are you?"

Kyungsoo shrugged as noncommittally as he was able to, torn between shuddering away and crossing his arms in annoyance. So he was dealing with a creepy jerk. Hm. He didn't want to seem like an easy target, but he wasn't entirely too keen on being disagreeable either. A thousand options for posture and body language raced through his mind as he sat there stiffly.

Kai raised one perfect eyebrow expectantly as Kyungsoo pressed his lips together in thought. Should he lie and make himself sound older and by default, less vulnerable?  _I'm a 30 year old man._ No, probably not believable; he already looked younger than his age. Or should he tell the truth, in case this man was one of those identity thieves Father had told him about—those men who knew everything about you from your birthday to the way you walked, to the color of your mother's hair, and wouldn't hesitate to slit your throat if you were caught lying? He hoped his expression wasn't betraying the adrenaline pumping in his veins. He was never one to be thick-skinned; he knew it showed when he was angry, or embarrassed, or ready to cry. In fact, he was probably red right now, hot with nerves and the unpleasant flutter in his gut as the man eyed him like he was a tender rabbit morsel, a snack.

Kai took his silence as an answer and drew back. "You don't know how old you are? I thought the rich libs kept the birth dates of their precious children down to a T." He laughed. It sounded bitter.

Kyungsoo was confused, so he kept quiet.

"Okay _Kyungsoo,"_ Kai said. "If you have nothing else to say, come follow me." Kai pulled him by the arm, leading him out of the kitchen and down a flight of stairs that descended into darkness.

After a few minutes of walking in silence Kyungsoo stopped dead and blinked rapidly, straining to see something, anything. He felt the same sense of impending doom he'd had when running through the city alone. It had been just as dark, the pitch _nothingness_ in front of him triggering a fear that overwhelmed him so completely he was scared to scream, scared to cry.

Kai twisted his arm. "Come _on_."

"Ow, please, it hurts! Where are you taking me? I don't want to go down there, please—" 

The man sensed the teariness in his voice and loosened his grip with a sigh. "What, what is it?" he snapped. "Is pretty boy scared of the dark?"

Kyungsoo was blinking rapidly now, ashamed and infuriated at himself for the hot tears that threatened to spill onto his cheeks. "I—"

Kai didn't let him finish. He dragged Kyungsoo by the wrist the rest of the way, Kyungsoo tripping over the steps as Kai set a scary, punishing pace.

It was impossible for Kyungsoo to tell how long they had been descending down the tunnel when there was finally light again. It could have been twenty minutes or an hour that passed when they finally saw the end—a surprisingly modern, steel reinforced door lit from above by a heat-wasting bulb strung from the ceiling.

Kai placed his right hand on the door and a blue laser scanned horizontally down the length of it. Kyungsoo watched, stunned, as the door lifted up into the darkness to reveal a vast warehouse full of shouting, bustling workers. Kai led him in without a word.


	3. Pigs

Kyungsoo was frightened to see that the workers were driving forklifts stacked with boxes upon boxes of caged children, mostly girls. Many of the children were quietly crying, but some were mute and staring, and still others were sleeping. The workers were speaking commands into wireless earpods, directing the forklift drivers through a maze of intersections that fed into long lines snaking into highway tunnels: a forklift traffic jam. Kyungsoo wondered how long it stretched. The whole place was vast concrete and brightly lit, like a sterile parking garage, and it echoed with the muddy murmur of hundreds of spoken commands.

One of the caged girls reached her fingers through the tight bars as her forklift churned past Kyungsoo. A QR scan code was tattooed across her cheek. _Like produce,_ Kyungsoo thought. Her left eye was swollen shut and bleeding. _Red tears_. With her one good eye, she looked straight into his soul, her black eye simultaneously young and worn, accusatory and resigned, unflinchingly hurt, unblinking. Kyungsoo swallowed an uneasy sense of guilt. He had been sheltered, he knew that. "Why is she bleeding?" he whispered to Kai. 

But Kai wasn't listening. He was striding powerfully towards a man on an elevated platform, Kyungsoo in tow. The man was dressed like a businessman, his sleeves pressed crisp and cuff links glinting sharply, something Kyungsoo thought odd when juxtaposed with his rapid-fire hand gestures that directed the tight center of forklift traffic. "Here," Kai said, shaking Kyungsoo by the shoulders. "I have him.”

The businessman turned to face them, causing the forklifts behind him to collide with a clash of scraping metal and sharp screams as the cages rocked and hit. Kyungsoo was slightly surprised to see that the man was white. Expats in Korea were still a rare sighting.

The man didn't mind the crash. He had shades over his eyes, and a sharky smile. "Come here," he said in strangely accented Korean, whistling, gesturing for Kyungsoo rudely—one palm up and two fingers beckoning, the way one would call for dogs. Kyungsoo felt Kai tense up, crush his hand. Kyungsoo looked down to see that his palm had disappeared into Kai's white-knuckled grip.

"Where is he," Kai said. He sounded tight, restrained. His nostrils were flaring.

"Why don't you let me inspect my wares first, hmm?" 

"You give me him first, or I—or I'll kill the boy."

The man visibly stiffened. He slipped a hand inside his suit jacket. Kyungsoo looked from Kai to the man, and back again. He wanted to run, but like in all moments with intense pressure, Kyungsoo was shocked into standing there dumbly, unable to do anything but stare.

"Naughty boy, Kai. What did you give him?"

"I won't give him the antidote if you don't give me Byun.  _Where is he?_ " Kai repeated through gritted teeth.

The man chuckled. "Ah, so reliable. I can always count on you." He tilted his shades—Kyungsoo caught a flash of red—and then a stream of armed police were rushing in from everywhere, from nowhere, popping out of grates in the ground and rolling from floor vents. A small platoon roped themselves down from the light fixtures. The commotion of pounding combat boots reminded Kyungsoo of historic buffalo stampedes he'd seen on the antique television at home. They sent tremors through his heart. 

"Hey!" Kai shouted. He pulled Kyungsoo close against his chest, spreading his stance defensively. "I did my end of the deal, and I haven't snitched! Just give me Byun!" The police were advancing in a tight circle. Their black helmet gear made them look like giant fanged ants. "Please!" Kai cried, desperate. The breath was being squished out of Kyungsoo as Kai squeezed like he wanted to mold Kyungsoo into himself, absorb him.

"Hand over the boy, Kai. You can see Byun later." Kyungsoo was shaking—no, Kai was, his bare chest trembling against Kyungsoo's clothed back and sending hot shudders down the both of them. Kyungsoo was suddenly aware of their nakedness; Kai shirtless, Kyungsoo in a huge T-shirt dress and undies. Kai's skin felt warm and vulnerable against Kyungsoo's back. They held each other as the police charged their shots and the businessman watched languidly, relaxed once more. Stale silence permeated the air.

A sigh. Kai whimpered into Kyungsoo's neck and let him go. Abruptly, it felt cold. The recycled warehouse air sent an air-conditioned breeze up Kyungsoo's loose shirt, snuck a biting chill up his legs. He let out a little gasp. The sharky businessman—outstretched arms, reaching smile—pulled Kyungsoo into his grasp in a flash. Kyungsoo didn't even have time to breathe before he was being suffocated into a hard chest, his inhales muffled, panicky. Shark man stank of leather and strong aftershave. And it hurt. There were hard objects outlined beneath his dress shirt, poking their strong corners into Kyungsoo's head. One of the objects felt like a gun.

Screaming. Awful, like someone was slaughtering a pig. Kyungsoo twisted in Shark man's unyielding arms, anxious to see. Were they torturing one of the children?  

No. Kyungsoo watched, horrified, as the police formed a ring around Kai and forced him to the floor, stomping and kicking his exposed belly, his fingers, his face. His pained expression kept disappearing behind the black pant legs of the crowd as he writhed and twisted to avoid the blows in vain. Someone smashed the heel of their boot into his fingers, making him arch against the floor and groan. Kyungsoo closed his eyes.

"Okay, that's enough," Shark man said impatiently. Quiet whimpers. Kyungsoo cautiously peeked through wet lashes. He hadn't noticed when he had started crying.

The police stepped back. Kai was curled in a little ball, gasping into the concrete. Two black eyes and a nosebleed.

"Take him away," the Shark ordered. The police dragged him off. Kyungsoo bit his lips and looked down, too scared to speak. He stiffened as the Shark pinched his cheek and grinned. "Let's go home now, shall we?"


	4. Home

Kyungsoo was writhing in pain atop a hard, unforgiving mattress. Cramps. Bad cramps, from the pancake poison Kai had offered him so sweetly just a few hours ago. Toe-curling, excruciating. He felt like a twisted snake lined with barbs was tunneling its way through his digestive tract and biting his intestines along the way. His brain was melting from the pain.

Kai had planned to poison him and administer the antidote upon getting Byun back. But what if he hadn't gotten him back? _"I'll kill him,"_ he had said. Had he meant it? Would he have just let Kyungsoo die? And—

"Oh, oh, _oouuw_ —" Kyungsoo was huffing like a woman giving birth. _Fuck_. Why did he care what Kai might have done? It didn't matter; he was going to die. What a way to go, too: Death by pancakes.

He thought back to his parents. They were probably freaking out right now. They must have called the cops hours ago, but what did it matter? No one was going to find him here in Shark's giant, underground steel complex. Kyungsoo blinked rapidly. No, he didn't want to think about it. He'd probably made his parents worried sick and the thought of that felt like a sharp kick to the gut. 

Think. Think of anything else. He should have kicked Shark in the balls, gouged his eyes out. Should have fought like he'd really meant it, even if that meant biting Shark in the face. But what if he had? He'd bite to the bone in earnest terror, and just the thought made him queasy. Teeth breaking skin. Teeth against teeth. Kyungsoo shivered. He was only vaguely aware of the pile of cold sweat he was lying in.

No, he decided. Even earlier: he should have refused the pancakes instead of eating them like a gullible fatass. No, even earlier; he should have held in his pee. Why hadn't he stayed by Father's side instead of chasing some stupid rabbit? Speaking of which, there were quite a few rabbits in this room, mounted on the walls. Rabbit head trophies—strange. They seemed to be speaking to him in choppy, static phrases as if from a weak radio.

That was it, he was slipping into delirium.

The unwanted thoughts raced around his head in tormenting circles. He thought back to when Shark had blindfolded him, pulling a bag over his head and stuffing a gag in his mouth in an embarrassing tussle that left him trussed up like a pig. During the struggle, Kyungsoo had halfheartedly tried to punch Shark in the face (he was scared of what Shark would do to him if he succeeded), but Shark had just caught his fist and twisted it back until he'd cried. He hated that. Hated, hated, _hated._  It was humiliating.

Afterwards, Kyungsoo remembered being carried by strong arms into a moving truck, and then he'd felt drowsy and blacked out. He supposed he should have stayed awake to count the left and right turns—map out the way in his head in case he ever had the chance to escape like how undercover cops did in crime documentaries. Again, a useless thought. He had to—the pain was making his head spin—he had to get out.

There was suddenly something very cold and very metal pressing against the side of his face. Kyungsoo's pupils dilated. "Wha-what—who—" he spluttered, soft cheek flinching away from the shocking touch.

"Awake now, are you?" Shark was caressing his face with a calloused hand. Three large, silver rings adorned his dry fingers. His entire weight was on the bed, his body pressing into Kyungsoo, his belt buckle digging into Kyungsoo's belly. Kyungsoo began to sob.

He knew he looked stupid—he caught glimpses of himself in the mirror, small and naked and curling his toes in pain, sobbing pathetically as he hugged his knees to his chest, his pleas blubbering and largely nonsensical. It hurts. _Stop the hurt._ Shark frowned. "Come on baby, stop squirming. You don't want me to accidentally shoot you in the balls, do you?"

Kyungsoo looked up in horror. His bangs were plastered to his head in damp curls from the sweat. "What—" 

Before he could protest, Shark shot a needle into his left shoulder. Kyungsoo opened his mouth in shock, thrashing wordlessly as the solution immediately took effect. It felt oddly unpleasant; his core muscles started to twitch involuntarily, and in the wrong directions. Within seconds, the cramps had subsided, and Kyungsoo was left panting in the afterglow of exhausted relief. But it was a brief reprieve; the gurgling in his stomach faded only to be replaced with a dizzying flash of heat through from his tops of his cheeks to the tips of his toes, which pointed and flexed in the burning sensation. His soles were on fire. This new sensation wasn't entirely unpleasant, just overwhelming, and—

"Huh," Kyungsoo panted. "I—what else did you put in it?" He was gasping now, heat burning down his throat and clouding his lungs with every breath. He felt spent and dizzy and out of control. Powerless.

"Oh, just a little extra health serum," he said, patting Kyungsoo's bum in mock reassurance. Kyungsoo made a nervous sound between a laugh and a sob as he tried to wriggle out of Shark's oppressive hold on his hips. Shark let him go with a sharp laugh and a slap on the ass.

Kyungsoo hopped to the only door in the room; his feet were really burning now. He flung himself against it. _Locked._ "It's fingerprint sensitive," a hot voice said in his ear. Kyungsoo jumped. Shark grinned down at him, his lip curled back in a cruel smile.

"I still have diarrhea from the food poisoning. It's really, really, bad," Kyungsoo said, his eyes pleading. He gulped. Looked up at Shark with those wide, innocent eyes that seemed to say, 'Who, me?' 

"Yes, you," Shark said aloud, thumbing a rough finger over Kyungsoo's plump bottom lip. It wobbled. Shark felt a thrill go through his spine as he looked into the boy's eyes, which had become red and wet. He was sniffling now, and wow, Shark hadn't felt this giddy in months. This boy was a prize in more ways than one.

"What?"

"Don't lie to me,"

"I don't—"

He snaked a hand  around Kyungsoo's neck. "My serum cures an upset stomach within minutes. Or your money back. But, not really." He stared at Kyungsoo while he laughed. Or at least he seemed to. For some reason, he was still wearing those dark shades. Kyungsoo noticed his face didn't move much. "Anyways, if you still have diarrhea, I can always strap you down and administer a stomach pump." There was that cruel grin again. Kyungsoo was sure he was savoring his own amusement. 

"No, no." Kyungsoo shook his head vigorously. "I was just kidding, I'm fine."

Shark smiled. The boy was entertaining. Fun to toy with. He pulled him into his arms. He thought that he would keep him a while longer.


	5. Escape

A maze of mirrors. Endless closets. The locked door had led to Shark's private collection of suits. Shark placed his palm across Kyungsoo's waist to make him twist, and Kyungsoo saw himself turn a hundred times. His reflections looked back small and wide-eyed. Pretty and translucent, the flowy, night blue suit cinched tight at his waist and flared out back behind him.

"Very delicate," Shark commented simply, smoothing the fabric down the sides of Kyungsoo's waist. "Fitting."

But Kyungsoo wouldn't be distracted. "What was in the serum?" he asked for the third time. Even in the light gauzy-smooth material, he was burning up.

"Oh, a little vitality, to get the blood flowing." He pinched Kyungsoo's cheek. It was hot with blush.

Shark steered him to the end of the hall, snapped his fingers, and made Kyungoo step back as the mirrored walls moved aside, revealing a sleek SpeedTrack Station.

"Oh no, no, no…" Kyungsoo recognized the underground train. They were a new technology, recently bought by AmTrak Co. Kyungsoo had seen his mom's study littered with ad posters and blueprints of the high-tech designs. They could transport you miles away in seconds. His parents would never find him. "Don't—I'm not going, wherever you're taking me." Kyungsoo dug his heels in and furiously shook his head as Shark grabbed him by the neck and dragged him towards the glass doors, which slid open with a hiss as they approached. Kyungsoo spluttered, kicked, and tripped over the raised entrance.

The lurch was immediate. Kyungsoo had no time to gather his bearings before he was suddenly sliding across the floor, his hands clawed in a desperate search for traction. Shark stepped on his back to keep him in place. "Get up," he grunted. "We're here."

Kyungsoo watched, confused and apprehensive, as the doors opened into a spacious, high-ceilinged ballroom. Hundreds of masked men and women in vibrant, decadent cloth glided about the dance floor, chattering. Kyungsoo had crashed an extravagant masquerade party. Once Shark dragged Kyungsoo up and stepped into the ballroom, the SpeedTrack doors slid shut and the train sped away. A hidden mechanism enabled embroidered walls to slide out and close over the clear tunnel built into the side of the ballroom and then it was like the train had never existed. Kyungsoo blinked. He felt empty inside.

Shark wrapped an arm around Kyungsoo's waist and steered him through the crowd, uttering forcefully pleasant "Excuse us's" whenever a tittering partygoer blocked their path. There were many witnesses here, but Kyungsoo knew better than to struggle free and cause a ruckus. He still remembered the sharp outline of the gun that was loosely veiled beneath Shark's dress shirt.

"Ah, Dober! Long time no see! How are those track shares coming along?" boomed a giant man with a walrus moustache peeking out from under his mask. The mask was adorned with ridiculously large ostrich feathers and it was a little too tight around his face. His arms were spread in a wide invitation for a hug. 

Shark tried to duck past. "They're doing great, really great. Now if you'll excuse me—"

"Oh, who's this little one?" Kyungsoo's eyes widened helplessly as the man moved one meaty hand to pinch Kyungsoo's cheek. He winked. "Ah, you're very pink. Be careful up there. Don't let him rip you through—"

"Nice seeing you, Mal," Shark said abruptly. His hand was tight against Kyungsoo's waist as he speed walked away, Kyungsoo in tow. 

Shark cursed under his breath once they were out of earshot. "Ugly fucking _bastard_."

Finally, Shark brought Kyungsoo out to a round princess balcony that opened into the clear night sky. The dizzying chatter of the ballroom seemed far away.

"What kind of candy do you like?" he asked as he rubbed Kyungsoo's back. Kyungsoo hung his head. Reality seemed to be slipping away like water through cupped palms. He had so many questions, but he couldn't think straight.

A pause. "I like hard ones," Kyungsoo sighed tiredly. He felt hot and slow and heavy. He felt his resistance slip away as his sorely tired body melted into the satisfying, methodic circles that Shark was rubbing into his neck, his spine, the dimples of his back.

"And beds?"

"S-soft ones," Kyungsoo stuttered between a yawn.

"Oh good, you'll love this place. Upstairs they have the best commodity beds Arc has to offer. Soft, high quality fiber-foam, with fine wines and artisan candies from Venice sprinkled on the sheets. Hard candies, with soft champagne fillings. They sparkle in your mouth…"

Kyungsoo sighed again. He supposed it sounded quite dreamy. A bed would be nice right now. All soft, and—and soft…

Shark laughed, and Kyungsoo felt something tug in his stomach. Sharp, reproachful—it shut him up immediately. He felt inhibited and a little tipsy, vaguely paranoid of some murky danger that his foggy mind couldn't pin down. He wondered if he was giving off the wrong signals. Had he forgotten something? A slow, dull panic throbbed through his chest when he realized that he was leaning his head against Shark's shoulder. He tried to lift his head but he just felt drowsy and hot, like he was stuck in a fever dream. 

Shark threaded his arm about Kyungsoo's waist and leaned down to kiss the top of his head. _"Shit,"_ Kyungsoo thought. Something was wrong. Something was nagging him. A little fly perhaps, buzzing in his brain.

"Don't mind the flies," Shark said as he leaned in for another kiss.

Kyungsoo yawned again, his chest numb. Had he spoken aloud? It was all getting very confusing.

" _Shit_." A rustle from below. A rustle in the bushes. Were the bushes talking? That hadn't been him thinking aloud, had it?

Kyungsoo wanted to lift his head, lift his buzzing eyelids, but the only thing that was alert was his heart. _Pump. Ba-Pump_.

He didn't know what possessed him to do it. Perhaps it was his clouded mind coming apart. Or something else, maybe. A restlessness, a desperation for escape.

Kyungsoo inhaled the chilled night air and jumped off the edge of the balcony. Bend and roll. Kyungsoo fell through a dark pile of thick, shaded undergrowth, and then the soft and spongy soil sunk under his weight, cushioning his fall.

There, just darting out of sight, was the shadow of a young man, tall and fit. The silhouette was vaguely familiar. Kyungsoo couldn't dare to believe it. Had he—could it—

"Kyungsoo…" Shark called from the balcony. His mock playful tone made it sound like he was searching for a disobedient dog. "Look up…"

It was dark and Shark probably— _hopefully_ —couldn't see. Kyungsoo bit his lips and kept his head down as he made a mad dash through the bushes, keeping the shadow man in his sight. His heart pounded in his ears and his blood rushed into his temples. His mad scramble away across rocks and branches caused painful stitches across his sides in no time at all. Soon, the thick bushes gave way to tougher dirt, and then rocks, and then gravel. Kyungsoo recognized the poor, unpaved roads of the slum city he had seen so often in the news. 

It was eerily quiet. The man was nowhere to be seen and Kyungsoo stuck to the walls, cautious. There, behind an alleyway dumpster. He could hide. He crept as quickly as he dared and yelped—he had bumped into a warm body.

The man cupped Kyungsoo's face with his hands. "Shh, shhh. There are people here. You do _not_ want them to hear you."

Kyungsoo let out a sob of pure terror, prompting the man to tear his mask off, panting roughly. _Kai_.

"Shut _up,"_ he said. "It's one thing to stalk me, it's another to let everyone within a one mile radius know that we're here."

"I thought—"

"Oh, you thought I was inviting you to come with me? You thought I was coming to save your ass?"

"I—I'm sorry?"

"I don't understand why you had to follow me," Kai spat bitterly. "You could have stayed as Dober's little pet dick warmer, at _least_ until you turned 30. He's nice to his favorite whores."

"No." Kyungsoo felt his cheeks flare up. He wasn't sure if he felt more shocked or more angry. "You think I would—that he—I'm not—I'm not his," Kyungsoo spluttered. 

Kai sneered. "Poor little rich boy didn't know what he was getting into when he wandered into the big, bad city, huh? What did you think he was going to do, take you upstairs to cuddle?" 

Angry. Kyungsoo was definitely more angry. " _You—_ " Kyungsoo lunged for Kai's face. There was a heavy tussle in the dark. Just the sound of harsh breathing and muffled grunts as the two of them wrestled against the wall as quietly a possible, with Kyungsoo struggling to pull Kai's hair to get at his face and Kai grappling for Kyungsoo's wrists to twist them back. A loud rip. Kai's pants. They weren't tailored for this.

Pants. Kyungsoo had a sudden mental image of Kai getting his pants tailored by Shark. He let out a sobbing laugh. Kai's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and it made Kyungsoo's stomach do a strange flip flop. They were wrestling in the dirt and Kyungsoo could feel pine needles from the bushes scratching his butt as he struggled to tug a handful of Kai's hair. It was all so ridiculous. His face was hot. Maybe he wasn't as strong as he thought he was, because Kai removed his hands and covered his mouth with seemingly little effort.

Kai was atop him, pressing his weight into the palm over Kyungsoo's mouth. Kyungsoo felt the heat tingle into his eyelids and then it went dark once more.


	6. Honey

Kyungsoo swore he was floating, submerged in semi-consciousness like water. He drifted in and out of waking, gathering fuzzy impressions of warmth, the scent of honey, and sometimes a gentle palm across his forehead. It was impossible to tell how much time had passed.

Soft waking murmurs. Fragmented images of light, and glass, and a sweet tinkling of wind chimes. Kyungsoo slipped through the thin layers of watery sleep to find himself sprawled across Kai's lap. He blinked lightly, watched Kai through heavy lidded eyes. Kai was pressing an iced towel to his forehead and rocking him. He tilted his head back, slipped a pill between his lips, and then gently massaged his neck to make him swallow.

"Do you really think I would have let you die?" he murmured softly. His eyes were gold and sad in the sun.

Kyungsoo attempted to speak, but his lips refused to move. His face was frozen, and yet he could feel himself slowly starting to come alive; he could feel warmth against his cheek and see white slivers of light through his eyelids.

Kyungsoo blinked the drowsiness out of his eyes and stared back dumbly. Sunlight flooded his vision, making Kai look blurry at the edges. He realized that Kai did not expect him to answer.

Kai seemed to startle. “Oh, you're awake." Kyungsoo observed how he looked more boyish without a frown. His hair was hanging down over his eyes in strands bleached brown by the sun. It looked soft to the touch.

For once, Kai was the first to look away. "That was a rhetorical question, by the way," he muttered. "Don't answer that."

Kyungsoo thought he felt the pill dissolve into bubbles down his throat, where it settled as a light and soothing honey-lemon in his chest. Clarity. Like a bell, like a breeze blowing across openmouthed bottles, like the sudden brightness of the wind chimes that Kyungsoo realized were swaying just a few steps away at the edge of the doorway. His pupils dilated at the sight of a forest of golden red treetops, a hundred feet below the wood of the deck. The doorway and windows were open to the sky—it wouldn't take much to fall.

Without looking away, Kyungsoo asked, "Why did he poison me?" His voice was measured and slow, deliberate.

"It wasn't poison—well, not technically. Just some poppers laced with sedatives. They cause eye damage though, if you ingest them a lot. And possible mental confusion, or dizziness. He likes his dolls to be mindless in bed."

Kyungsoo shuddered. "Don't say that."

Kai shrugged. "For first dates he used to lace them with hallucinogens, until one night a lover of his had a meltdown because he thought Dober had three devil horns for a dick. That was part of the fun though. It was the constant screaming that was undesirable."

"Stop it, I don't want to know," Kyungsoo said. He blinked rapidly. A wave of pressure was building up behind his sinuses. Kai held his breath and watched on; he sensed that a breakdown was brewing. But Kyungsoo just pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "As if my eyes weren't bad enough already," he grumbled.

The rest of the morning passed in a quietly surreal, warm summer haze. Kyungsoo remembered Kai's silhouette outlined against the gold and turquoise of the sky. Dappled sunlight and leafy shadows shifted across his face.

After a while, Kyungsoo felt well enough to get up and pad outside to the deck, where his footsteps disturbed the fine layer of pollen dusting the wooden planks. Set on the edge of the balcony was a row of empty jam jars, blowing windy whistles across their open tops. Kyungsoo knelt down, brushed the edges with the tips of his fingers. There was no railing. Far below, the treetops were swaying in unison.

"These used to contain the finest mulberry fruits Avalon had to offer," Kai said, picking up a jar. "The stuff of gods. That or just rich bastards. That little masquerade ball you saw? Mwah. Fine dining for tables and tables. I used to be paid in jam, little table scraps like that. But what they considered party leftovers you could sell for thousands to some wannabe upstart. That's the nice thing about working for rich bastards. And at parties? I saw them smacking this stuff up. Sweet berry goodness, juice red as blood on their fingers. Blood berries. It's no different from blood chocolate, or blood diamonds. Except now it's just food, the basic necessities coming under attack."

Kyungsoo wasn't sure he understood. He felt dumb and slow, and embarrassed for it. As if in a drowsy daze, Kai reached out and plucked a fruit from a branch growing out the side of the wall. It occurred to Kyungsoo that he had never been in a treehouse before—or seen one, for that matter. 

Kai didn't know why he was telling the boy all this. He was bored, he supposed. He liked the way Kyungsoo's eyes widened, the way his thick eyebrows wavered like the fuzzy caterpillars that ate away at the roof. He wanted to feed the boy with knowledge that his empty little head had never known until his eyes popped, or his head burst. A sheltered airhead, probably pampered to death by his educated parents. How disgustingly predictable.

There was one thing that surprised him, though.

Kai studied the fruit intently. The more Kai stared at it, the more it looked like a bottom. It was pink and bursting with nectar, an apple peach hybrid—fuzzy, crunchy, and together more juicy and sweet than the two fruit combined. Gene splicing was a miraculous thing. "How did you know to jump off the balcony? You must've been hopped up really heavy on those sedatives, or Dober wouldn't have dared to bring you to the ball…"

Kyungsoo shrugged, looked up at Kai with those wide owlet eyes. 

Slowly, surely, Kai brought the fruit to Kyungsoo's lips. Without breaking eye contact, Kyungsoo bit into the roundness of the flesh. His teeth punctured the thin skin and then the sweetest pale juice was filling his mouth, dribbling down his chin, feeling surprisingly cool and refreshing against his cheeks. Kai shifted his feet. It felt hot all of a sudden.

Kyungsoo took the fruit into his own small hands and slurped it up like he was starving. "It tastes like…flowers bursting in your mouth, or—or honey, it tastes like honeysuckle!" He beamed up at Kai like he was the best person in the world and Kai looked down, suddenly embarrassed. The boy acted like a _child._

Kai plucked another fruit for Kyungsoo, who was too short to reach the ripe ones. "You've never had pelapples before?"

"Oh, so that's what they're called? No, I've never even heard of them." Kyungsoo felt oddly giggly. He supposed it was the sweetness in the air, the juiciness of the fruit. Here with Kai and the pelapples he could feel his inhibitions melting away, his fear scattering like the seedlings blowing from the trees to the forest floor.

Far below, the trees were swaying. Beside him, Kai ran a hand through his hair and started to move. He danced to the rhythm of the wind, with Kyungsoo and the whispering leaves as audience.

"Where'd you learn how to dance?" Kyungsoo asked in a hushed voice. 

Kai searched for specific _intent_ behind his words, but he could find nothing but innocence. "That's a secret," he said, and winked, purely out of habit.

The late sun flooded the sky with red. Kai danced under the sunset, danced as shadows came out and casted his face with harsh edges. Dance made him feel so incredibly hollow sometimes, and at other times, alert, alive, and exhilarated, like he had just breathed in a storm of cold wind. But this was different. He didn't know what he felt now, with Kyungsoo staring up at him like that, knees huddled to chest in the chilled night air, mouth fallen open in awe like he had seen a special star.

It was funny, Kai thought, that this was basically a watered down version of his strip routine. A lot of things were funny. His chest felt tight when he did a turn, and he couldn't help but feel oddly grateful at the end of his dance, when the moon came out with a curtain of stars and Kyungsoo sat there clapping his hands, his cheeks squished up in a genuine smile. 


	7. Waterfall Dreams

The lights of the hotel room were red. 

Kyungsoo flopped onto the bed and expected it to creak under his weight, but his fall was slow and silent and his suit jacket flew out behind him like tailwings. The bed squished under him like a slow rising marshmallow. Time had slowed down just for him. Time, it seemed, was accommodating and kind. 

He startled as he felt the weight of the bed shift. There was Kai lying beside him, sprawled across the velvety bedsheets with a dethorned rose bitten between his teeth. Chocolates and delicate flower petals were spread across the covers in calculated disarray. "For me?" Kyungsoo gasped.

Kai grinned between rose-clenching teeth. Time had stopped for the both of them. Kai's loose dress shirt was forever hanging open, forever lifting a little at the edges as a teasing, nonexistent breeze blew across his hair. This room had no windows.

Kai was grimacing now, as if the rose really did have thorns, as if he was tired of holding the same smile. His eyes were dead. It made Kyungsoo uncomfortable. Kyungsoo squirmed into the pillows and felt his heart leap into his throat as the bedsheets rippled and dissolved into water. He was, quite abruptly, flailing at the bottom of the hotel swimming pool, drowning in twelve feet of chlorinated hell. 

He gasped and water filled his mouth, squirted up his sinuses. There was a ringing pressure behind his ears, a pressure that made him look up and kick desperately towards the light. Up there—a blurry, hunched figure. _Kai_. He was sobbing and shaking, crying waterfalls, filling the pool with impossible amounts of water as Kyungsoo tried to swim up towards him.But it was all in vain; the water level was rising faster than he could swim. _"Time,"_ Kyungsoo thought. _"I won’t make it in time."_

Kyungsoo gasped, and realized he was dead. Kyungsoo gasped, and then Kai was shaking him awake.

Someone was screaming. _He_ was screaming. Kai was cupping his face, holding him, making soothing passes down his shuddering shoulders. "You're alive, Kyungsoo. You're alive." He hugged Kyungsoo into his chest where it was warm.

Kyungsoo's gasps devolved into fearful whimpers, and then into little sobs. He dripped snot and tears down Kai's baggy T-shirt, the night terror taking the edge off of any shame. He sniffled. The warm laundry smell of Kai's tee made him homesick. His parents and his room and everything he knew was gone. He just wanted to be home, lying in his own bed, covered in a blanket of penguin plushies. Instead he was stuck in a strange house with a strange man, having strange dreams that brought him close to pissing himself. 

"I wanna go home," he mumbled into Kai's chest.

Kai looked down at the boy and swallowed. His hair was stuck to his forehead in dark curls thick with sweat and his eyes were swollen like a baby bird's. "Who _doesn't_ want to go home?" Kai said softly as he ran his hand through the curls, unsticking them.

The boy was already slipping away again, not registering a word. Kai let him slump back into a fitful rest, even though it meant Kai would have to wake up to his delirious mumbling every hour or so.

The boy was sick and it was his fault. The honey-lemondrop pill was not enough to fight whatever poison Dober had given the boy. Kai had more of them but they were just painkillers that offered temporary relief, and he couldn't let the boy develop an addiction to them on top of it all. He could only hope the boy hadn't been given an overdose. 

If he hadn't gotten too greedy, if he had just thought things through...there should have been a better way...

Kai curled into himself and dreamed fitfully. He was in a dark place, stuck in a locked room with a pitiful creature that kept changing faces. Byun, then Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo, then Byun. Others, too. Their faces had slow smiles and sleepy eyes.

Even in sleep, Kai was horrified. A child. It was always a child's face that appeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The night before i started writing this chapter, i had a nightmare that kai had committed suicide. really fucking sucked


	8. Found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so i added some info to the last chapter because i realized i needed to explain something so maybe go back and read that before this yea ^3^

Kyungsoo awoke to a distant thud. The giant weeping willows were scratching at the roof like a million spider legs. Beside him, Kai jerked awake. "Fuck. They're here." 

"What?" Kyungsoo's head was pounding. His temples felt ready to explode. 

"No time," Kai whispered, whipping to his left to grab a pocketknife from the nightstand. "Quick." He dragged Kyungsoo out of bed and ran outside. The stars were out. Kyungsoo shivered.

Kai led him to a wooden platform at the back of the deck that was barely wide enough for the both of them. Kyungsoo crawled on wordlessly and merely blinked as it began descending slowly through the foliage. He felt nauseous and slightly dazed, still stuck in a dream. Through the middle of the platform was a pole, which he wrapped his arms around gratefully; a fall at this point would be deadly. Kai jumped on soon after and the descent became twice as fast, enough to rustle the leaves and make sharp bits of branches scratch and whip at their faces, enough to make Kyungsoo feel the nerves at his temples pulse in apprehension. Kai stood stiffly and narrowed his eyes at the world. _"What is he scared of?"_ was Kyungsoo's last thought before the wind stung at his eyes and the drop became a blur. 

The platform stopped six feet above the ground. Kai jumped off and landed cleanly, catlike. He turned around to see Kyungsoo still huddled on the platform, his eyes closed and his arms hugged loosely around the pole. Kai pulled him off with some effort and grunted as the boy jostled ungracefully into his arms. He was out cold. Not good.   

Kai readjusted his arms under Kyungsoo's head and legs. _Hoo, okay, bridal style. I can_ _do this._ There was another thud, closer this time. _Shit._ Kai threw Kyungsoo over his shoulder and ran as fast as he could with Kyungsoo's dead weight knocking against him. It was his fault, it had to be. The tracker that Dober had installed in his wrist was still there, pulsing GPS signals beneath his veins.

A giant cracking sounded through the forest as some redwood trees a few feet off bent and snapped like twigs. A shadow fell across Kai, who froze as he suddenly felt very, very small. 

Robot. Giant, humanoid robot. Kai had known this would happen sooner or later, but not _this_ soon. He had been counting on time to prepare, time to plan out his trap. _Foolish._ The bot loomed over Kai and brought one steely, thick arm to point at him. "Target detected. Searching subject database - Do Kyungsoo, Male, 19, Gyeonggi Province. Attacker - unidentified. Attacker - confirmed." 

It was a modified aid bot, one of those newer models that deployed food, water, and medicine to people for disaster relief. Recently however, they had come to be used more by the police force. They were waterproof and made of reinforced steel - for the most part. But Kai knew their manufacturing weaknesses; years of snooping around in Dober's warehouses had finally paid off.

A large claw hand began protruding from the robot's stub of an arm. Kai stood his ground as it extended and spread over him, each metal-jointed claw lengthening into the ground upon impact, digging into the surrounding soil in six sharp points to trap him in.

Kai set Kyungsoo on the ground, flipped open his pocketknife, and dug its thin blade into his wrist. Instantly, it became red. And it hurt. It really fucking hurt. Tears began to blur his vision as he dug his nail underneath the little chip that was embedded between the muscle. Flip. It came out clean. He almost dropped it. With adrenaline and hatred coursing through his veins, he chucked the chip far, far off into the forest. 

The bot paused, retracted its clawed cage, and whirred off into the distance, its sleek legs pressing firmly into the dirt, all long and nimble around the trees. No wonder it had found them so quickly. Kai slumped onto the dirt, exhausted, and fell back against a squishy warm thing. Oh, right. Kyungsoo. His brows were furrowed like they had been last night, when he woke up screaming. Looking at him made Kai sad. He tossed Kyungsoo over his shoulder again and carried him in the wake of the robot's path.

A muffled boom a few yards ahead. Kai followed the sound and found himself in a small, warm clearing. With its mission complete, the robot had deactivated, frozen but for a cloud of dust beneath its claw. When the smoke cleared, Kai saw that the soil beneath it was scorched dry and stripped of grass. The chip was gone, completely incinerated. Kai grimaced and set to work examining the metal plating on the robot's back.

At the movement of Kai's arm, Kyungsoo bucked weakly and moaned against his chest, obviously still plagued by some haunting dream. Kai felt something stir in his gut. Wow, now was not the time. _It's just the adrenaline,_ he thought to himself as he laid Kyungsoo down on a patch of grass and began stabbing at the metal plating aggressively. He desperately tried to ignore the tightness at the front of his pants, but still couldn't help but feel guilty somehow. The backing dented after a few minutes. He pulled at the panel and it finally gave, revealing various cases of emergency supplies. First Aid Kit. Antihistamines. A laser gun. MREs. Water. A whole pack of pills. 

Kai fumbled for the First Aid Kit and the pill box. There. A syringe and a bottle of Flumazenil for makeshift surgery recoveries. Or in this case, for assholish daterape sedatives. Kai drew 0.2 milligrams of the clear Flumazenil into the syringe and slowly injected it into the largest vein on Kyungsoo's wrist. Now to wait; the bottle said to inject again if there was no response within 45 seconds. _One Mississippi...two Mississippi...three Mississippi...please, please...five..._

Kai swept Kyungsoo's fringe from his forehead in jittery, repetitive strokes. After thirteen agonizing seconds, Kyungsoo finally blinked awake. "You're alive, you're alive," Kai said, cupping Kyungsoo's face in his hands.  

"Is this a dream?" Kyungsoo said groggily. 

"It can be," Kai said, lying down and hugging Kyungsoo in his arms. Now that the shock had worn off, he felt sated and content but deeply, sorely tired. Kyungsoo was alive. He was alive. The tracker was destroyed. Kai felt mushy and soft, as if he was just coming off of a runner's high. He could fall asleep right here. 

The night was getting short. Gold beams dappled their faces as the rising sun melted through the trees. Kyungsoo sighed into Kai's chest. With their arms intertwined, they fell asleep just as the fireflies blinked out.  


	9. Hunger and Thirst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rethought the plot!  
> Forget Momo (the girl kai was trying to get in exchange for kyungsoo)  
> i changed it to Byun because that works out better.  
> :)

Kyungsoo's eyes didn't agree to waking up with him. He had a honking headache behind his eyes and his eyelids were glued together, sticky and crusty and _ew_. Also, he was starving. He rubbed the crumbs away and sat up, drinking in his surroundings.

He was in a quiet forest clearing ringed in by cool blue shrubbery. A robot with a giant claw sat at the edge of the bushes, its edges charred and slightly smoking. That was bizarre. What was an aid bot doing here? Had Kai called for help? Kyungsoo racked his brains to last night and vaguely remembered waking up to a thud and hearing Kai fumbling around in the dark. He had seemed tense and scared. What had happened? What had he been looking for? Where was he now?

The trees became denser as Kyungsoo strayed farther from the clearing. The shade made the air cool enough to send a minty breeze against his face. He could hear the rush of water, and...splashing? Maybe the aid bot had crash landed and sent out distress signals to alert a governmental rescue agency. Maybe he would find a group of strapping young officers here, ready to haul him to safety aboard their airboat. 

Wishful thinking, of course. Kyungsoo sighed quietly. Kai was standing under a small waterfall, his mouth open to the foamy spray, his shirt discarded by the bank. Kyungsoo caught a flash of some black pattern just above the hem of his pants before he turned around to— _O_ _ops_. Kyungsoo ducked behind a tree with his back to Kai, his heart racing in his ears. It wasn't that Kyungsoo hadn't seen him with his shirt off before—it was just that he was showering, and wet, and Kyungsoo felt sneaky and wrong like an intruder.

And yet...

Kyungsoo cautiously peeked out from behind the tree, unable to resist. Just a quick peek to see what was tattooed on his back, that was all. His eyes widened as Kai's hands traveled lower and lower and paused above his navel. Kai looked down at his chest and paused, seemingly unbothered by his soaked hair, the rivulets of fresh water streaming down his chest, the way his black cargo pants stuck to his skin. It looked uncomfortable. He made a move to undo his belt and then paused again, his fingers drumming the buckle. Kyungsoo looked on with wide eyes. Somewhere along the way, he had started holding his breath.

"I can see you, you know."

 _Shit._ Kyungsoo whipped back behind the tree, his face hot. When he peered over the side again, Kai was smirking at him.

"I-I was just wondering where you were," Kyungsoo squeaked. 

Kai raised his eyebrows. "Right here. Never left." 

Kyungsoo nodded slowly. "Right, um, d'you-do you know where we are?" Kyungsoo was bursting with questions, but the self-conscious prickling at the back of his neck stopped him from going full word vomit. 

"Białowieża Forest, I think. Dober's Polish. He likes coming here for his business meetings." 

"Oh." 

"He sent one of his bots to catch us last night but I took care of it. I don't think we have to worry about him anymore. Anyways, I'm guessing you're hungry? We should get going if we don't want to starve. There's a little village just outside of this park. One of the restaurants makes a great chicken breakfast."

Kyungsoo blinked. "I—okay." Kai's conversational tone seemed oddly forced, but Kyungsoo didn't press him. Kyungsoo would observe him, keep on the lookout. He didn't seem entirely trustworthy.

After Kyungsoo washed his face in the stream and Kai wringed out his hair, they walked back to the clearing to gather the supplies from the bot. Gauze. Rope. Pills. Kai packed the supplies into the many pockets in his cargo pants while Kyungsoo sat in the grass, distracted by something glaring into his eyes. It was glassy and partially hidden by leaves, glistening in the sun. Kyungsoo knelt down to look. 

Kai spotted Kyungsoo's furrowed brows and stopped winding the rope for a second. "What's wrong?"

"A needle? Flumazenil? What's this doing here?"

Kai crossed his arms. "You were knocked out from whatever Dober gave you last time so I revived you. You could've died, I don't know."

Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms right back at him. "I don't trust you," he said.

To his surprise, Kai stuck out his lower lip and _pouted._ "Well fine then, I'll go eat yummy chicken breakfast by myself." He set off in an arbitrary direction, arms still crossed and nose to the sky in a ridiculous, petty march.

Kyungsoo jogged after him. "Wait, how come _you_ get all the supplies? Do you even know where you're going?"

"Oh, so now you're following me? I didn't see _you_ offering to carry anything. And yes I know where we're going; there's a trail up ahead."  

Kyungsoo's stomach growled. It could've been his hunger causing him to imagine things, but he thought he smelled fried chicken in the breeze that wafted over. He grabbed Kai's arm and practically dragged him onto the trail. Kai laughed. For the first time in a long while, Kyungsoo felt hopeful.


	10. Return

Kyungsoo didn't realize how starved the past few days had left him until the steaming hot plate of buttery goodness met his mouth. Within minutes, his belly was stretched and achingly full, and yet he still yearned for more. Kai had been right; the chicken breakfast was really, really good.

Kyungsoo thought he had eaten a lot, but by the time he was stuffed full with one helping Kai was on his third. They sat in silence for a while, Kyungsoo staring at Kai as he devoured his fifth chicken leg and Kai looking down at his plate. He ate like he didn't know when his next meal would come. And maybe he _didn't_ know. Kyungsoo hardly knew anything about him.

Hmm. Kyungsoo sat back and stared at the top of Kai's head, lost in thought. For the first time in days, he felt strong and clear-headed. There were no drugs bogging him down, his belly was content, and from what he could remember, Kai needed him alive to trade him for that Byun guy. This was it. No more chickening out. It was time for him to confront Kai with all his burning questions.

When it came time to pay, Kai winked at the lady owner and placed a rose gold trinket into her palm, which Kyungsoo recognized as one of the napkin holders from the masquerade party. She practically swooned and sent them out with fresh cream puffs, on the house.

Once outside under glare of the frosty morning sun, Kai began hurriedly weaving through the overgrown back alleys of the quaint little village, one cream puff in each hand. The sky was white and cold and Kyungsoo realized that he wanted nothing more than to curl up somewhere warm for a little after-meal nap. _Shit._ His body wanted to give up already. _No._

"Wait," he called out after Kai, gritting his teeth and huffing to catch up. "Where are you going?" 

Kai slowed to a jog. "I have to go back. I...Dober took someone from me and I have to find him. I get it if you don't want to come with me. It's just..."

Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes. "Just like that? If I run now, you won't tackle me and chloroform my ass?" He tried to keep the hopefulness out of his voice. He didn't want to seem any more naive than Kai already thought he was.

Kai winced. "I—for what it's worth, I never wanted to do that. I just needed to trade you to get my friend back."

Kyungsoo glared at him. Kai slowed to a stop to face him. "I'm sorry," he said softly, and Kyungsoo felt his indignation swell.

"Are you kidding me? I'm not some kind of  _commodity._ Were you going to sell me into slavery like those kids who were caged up in that warehouse?"

Kai took a step back, his shoulders tensed up to his neck. Kyungsoo countered with a step forward and jabbed a finger into his chest. The pain and fatigue from the past couple of days emboldened Kyungsoo now, made him reel with furious hurt. "And what was that whole deal with Dober? You knew he was going to rape me, didn't you? You fucking knew."

Kai shook his head furiously. "No, that's not-I didn't-that was never part of the plan."

"Oh, you had a _plan_? And now you're _sorry?_ " Kyungsoo's voice rose hysterically and pitched into a high, angry squeak, which just added to the distress seething under his skin. Kai's sudden remorse didn't help either. What was he playing at?

Kai held his hands up in defeat. "Okay, okay, I get it. Let me explain! I thought Dober would make the trade with me because he could put you up for ransom. Your rich parents would pay their way into getting a hit team to bust up your kidnapping and then _boom_ , you get home, I escape with my friend, this whole thing blows over. I didn't know he had a fucking SWAT team in his warehouse, and I didn't realize he'd gone back to his little sex palace until I heard the news that he'd made a beeline back to Poland. I had to hack into his SpeedTrack Train just to find you. Then I thought we could hide and rest up in the tree house for a while, but he sent a rewired aid bot after us. It was kind of a blessing in disguise though, because I was able to dismantle it and use the first aid kit to flush the date rape drugs out of your system."

Kyungsoo didn't move. His finger was still pressed into Kai's hard chest. "If what you're saying is true, why would Dober send an aid bot to catch us? Isn't it kind of counter-intuitive to present potential kidnap captives with so many supplies? And how would he even have access to it? Only government authorized organizations can use aid bots."

Kai stared at him. "Your parents really kept you in the dark, huh?" He took a deep breath and sighed into his hands. "I don't care what they teach you in school. The government is corrupt, Kyungsoo. It’s stupid and weak and financially dependent on traffickers like Dober. They aren’t going to stop him from doing what he wants. They’ll just look the other way, pretend nothing ever happened, or bend head over heels to find loopholes in their own laws. As for the aid bot, Dober had it reset. The government requires aid bots to have a military setting in case Korea ever comes under siege, and the authorization required to flip a bot from rescue relief to tank mode is something only higher-ups in the government can do, but, you know, there's a worm in every can. The bot wasn't set to kidnap us; it was set to blast us into smithereens."

Kyungsoo blinked, looked away from Kai's hard stare. "Oh."

Kai rolled his eyes. “Oh? Is that what you say to everything?”

Kyungsoo didn't like this new development. He poked his finger into Kai's chest again. "How do you know your way around so well? You've been here before, right? Why? What was your connection with Shark? Why'd he take your friend?"

Kai's jaw tensed. "That's it. No more questions from you. My turn: What's it like for your parents to cover your ass all the time?"

Kyungsoo's jaw dropped. "What set you off? What was wrong with my questions?"

Kai bristled. "Whatever. Stop _poking_ me. Are you coming or not?"

"No! Do you think I'm out of my mind? I'm not getting involved in this, and I'm not about to let my parents lose their minds over me. Good luck finding your friend."

Kai tilted Kyungsoo's chin up to look him in the eye and grimaced. "You _are_ out of your mind. You're not going to last a day without me. Want to give mommy and daddy a call? Go ahead. He knows we're in the country, so he's got all the wires tapped and more. You make a call, any call, and a car will arrive in no time to pick you up but it's not going to be your parents."

Kyungsoo felt his chest deflate. He blinked rapidly, taken aback by his own sudden urge to just sit down and cry. This was stupid. He felt stupid. "Well then why did you say you would understand if I decided not to come with you?" he said as he pushed Kai's hand away.

Kai sighed. "You cut me off. I was going to let you know that I understood but that it would be highly ill-advised to leave. I wanted to break it to you gently, but apparently that's not how Mr. Pushy wants to do things."

Kyungsoo opened his mouth and closed it again. His lips were wobbling too much. He put his fingers in his mouth and looked away as he bit his nails in a desperate attempt to hide his distress. 

"Hey," Kai said, gentler this time. "I can take you somewhere Dober won't expect us. We'll be safe there."

Kyungsoo only nodded down at his toes.

Kai felt a tingle of apprehension spark through his spine as he raised a hand to block out the sun. The glare in his eyes was harsh and unyielding. Taking on young dependents with zero street smarts? Dangerous. Dangerous and very, very stupid. But it was too late now; Kyungsoo had become his problem. He could only hope he wouldn't regret it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A reader let me know that they'd thought Kyungsoo was 9 or 10 at most up until the bot revealed he was 19. They suggested giving Ksoo some of the cutting humor & no bullshit attitude he has irl. I'd appreciate any feedback on how old you thought he was and whether I should give him more of this attitude/otherwise age him up.  
> I'd love suggestions on how to write Ksoo more realistically. Ksoo was 19 when he debuted, and to me he seemed more shy and insecure than he does now (in front of strangers, at least). Should I have him go through this gradual personality change throughout the story?
> 
> Also, here's some of my exo fanart:  
> [Kai](https://twitter.com/_Jazzine/status/1030629763520446464)  
> [Xiu](https://twitter.com/_Jazzine/status/1026595725725945857/photo/1)  
> [Soo](https://twitter.com/_Jazzine/status/1013470701079019520/photo/1)  
> I really want to illustrate something for this story. My twitter is @_Jazzine if you want to see WIPs.  
> Thanks for reading :) your feedback spurs me on

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate all feedback :3  
> You can comment suggestions for plot or cute details if you want and I can see if I can work it in


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